St. Paul's claims second place in District 6-5A boys basketball

Not only did second place in District 6-5A, and the playoff berth that comes with it, come down to the final game of the season Tuesday, it came down to the final seconds at two sites.

St. Paul's held off Fontainebleau 41-38 and Northshore was knocked off by Slidell 47-44, leaving the Wolves (15-13, 7-5) in sole possession of second place.

Mandeville could have tied for second, but the Skippers were beaten by Covington, leaving them 6-6 in district along with Northshore, Slidell and Ponchatoula,

The coaches planned to have a playoff in case of a tie, but Northshore Athletic Director Tom Gainey said Tuesday researching the district showed that the team with the highest power ranking would advance instead of settling it with a playoff. That would have Northshore, had the Panthers won.

St. Paul's, which won its final five games after a 2-5 district start, will advance most likely as the No. 32 team, which means a trip to top-seeded Scotlandville in the opening round. The Wolves were routed by Scotlandville 87-31 in the opener.

"We've been there before, " St. Paul's Coach Phil Williams said. "We'll just get our emotions together and go see what happens. We've got eight seniors who have been through the wars with us, and they deserve another game."

The Wolves figured to have an easy time with Fontainebleau (3-24, 0-12). But the Bulldogs hung tough, and with 10 seconds left closed to 39-38 when Christian Lang hit two free throws. But Jason Fos converted two of four free throws in the closing seconds, and the Bulldogs turned the ball over on their final possessions.

At Northshore, Slidell went into a stall in the first quarter, which ended with the Tigers up 4-0. It was 25-14 midway through the second quarter and 30-24 at halftime.

Northshore took its only lead of the game at 39-38 with 3:36 left. Lamelle Norman of Slidell answered with a 3-pointer.

Northshore tied it at 41 with 2:03 left, but the Tigers' Denzel Crawford' layup with 1:53 to go gave his team the lead for good.